(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a knee protector that protects a driver in the event of head-on collision of a vehicle.
(2) Description of the Related Art
A conventionally knee protector has been provided that deforms in response to a load applied from the knees of a seated driver moving forward in the direction of the length of a vehicle in the event of head-on collision to thereby reduce an impact load applied to the knees of the driver.
Such a knee protector is arranged such that a load receiving part thereof is positioned substantially in front of the knees of the seated driver in order to receive the load applied by the knees of the driver to the knee protector in the event of head-on collision.
The knee protector is a component that is placed at a predetermined position in the vehicle, and therefore, the load receiving part thereof is also placed at a predetermined position on every occasion. The positions of the knees of seated drivers differ in horizontal and vertical directions according to their statures. Thus, the load receiving part may not be positioned in front of the knees of the seated driver, and may not sufficiently receive the load applied by the knees of the driver to the knee protector in the event of head-on collision.
To address this problem, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 11-180237 has disclosed a knee protector whose width is increased in the direction of the width of a vehicle and whose length is sufficiently increased in the direction of the height of the vehicle so that the position of the knee of a driver can correspond to the position of a load receiving part of the knee protector even if the statures of seated drivers and the positions of their knees vary.
The above-mentioned prior art, however, has the problem that the increase in the size of the knee protector in the directions of the width and height of the vehicle will increase the weight of the knee protector and accordingly raises the cost.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a knee protector whose load receiving part can be positioned in front of the knees of drivers of different statures without greatly increasing the weight and the cost of the knee protector.